(Reuters) - A tame inflation reading and strong earnings from Citigroup led investors to pile back into stocks on Thursday, pushing Wall Street to its best level in eight weeks.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street is forever on the lookout for ever more exotic indicators of impending doom for the stock market, and the latest measure to catch eyeballs is the CBOE Skew index which recently flashed panic signals like never before.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. budget deficit narrowed to $439 billion in fiscal 2015, the lowest level since 2008, as the economy continued to recover from the financial crisis and revenue growth outpaced a rise in spending, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp on Thursday said it plans to cut 250 jobs in its Missiles and Fire Control business by late November as part of an overall "belt tightening" drive.

(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc reported a 51 percent jump in quarterly profit as lower costs more than made up for a fall in revenue amid increased market volatility and uncertainty about the timing of a U.S. interest rate hike.

MILAN (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp , the world's biggest coffee chain, is in talks with an Italian partner to open branches in Italy, one of the few major markets where it has yet to make an entrance, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve is still expected to raise U.S. interest rates in December but signs the labor market may be in a soft patch have dented confidence the central bank will pull the trigger, according to a Reuters poll.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than 1 percent on Thursday, down for the fourth day as the U.S. government reported a larger-than-expected crude stockpile build.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street bankers and traders are likely to get smaller bonuses for 2015 as trading revenue plunges.

(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc's profit plunged 38 percent, its second straight quarterly drop, depressed by a steep decline in bond trading revenue triggered by concern about global growth.

CALGARY, Alberta/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Canadian rail companies are slashing rates for shipping crude in their first serious effort to revive an industry rocked by the rout in global oil prices, according to shippers and terminal operators who are seeing discounts of as much as 25 percent.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Crude oil futures rose on Friday to snap a week-long decline as investors bet falling U.S. production would cut a global surplus, while the country's gasoline and distillate inventories dropped more than expected.

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Private equity firm Carlyle Group LP fired its top dealmaker in Indonesia after the banker was fined by Singapore's financial regulator in an insider trading case, a source with direct knowledge of the decision told Reuters on Thursday.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A rate hike by the Federal Reserve could have greater global repercussions than in the past because the economy has changed and central banks have little experience moving away from interest rates of zero, European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio said.

(Reuters) - Video-streaming service provider Netflix Inc reported third-quarter U.S. subscriber additions below its own forecast, blaming a transition to chip-based cards for the miss.

(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc warned on Wednesday that higher wages as well as spending on e-commerce and lower prices would cut earnings per share as much as 12 percent next fiscal year, sparking the steepest one-day decline in the company's shares in 25 years.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense contractor and aerospace giant Boeing paid the United States $18 million to settle whistleblower allegations that it submitted false claims for labor charges to the U.S. Air Force, the Justice Department said on Wednesday.

HAMBURG/BERLIN (Reuters) - The man Volkswagen lined up less than three weeks ago to head its North American business resigned on Wednesday, dealing a blow to the German carmaker's efforts to recover from a scandal over its rigging of U.S. diesel emissions tests.

BENGALURU/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc lured Google Inc executive Omid Kordestani to become the social media company's executive chairman, the latest step in the company's turnaround efforts under Jack Dorsey, who last week was named permanent CEO.

LONDON (Reuters) - Will a beer colossus by any other name taste as sweet?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. retail sales barely rose in September and producer prices recorded their biggest decline in eight months, raising further doubts about whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors piled into BlackRock Inc bond ETFs and paid more in hedge fund fees in the third quarter, helping the world's largest asset manager beat Wall Street's earnings forecasts and offsetting a higher tax hit that cut profits 8 percent from a year earlier.

(Reuters) - South Africa's Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) said the government, regulators and pension funds should not agree to the $106 billion takeover of SABMiller Plc by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA over concerns that jobs and tax revenue would be lost.

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co , the biggest U.S. residential mortgage lender, reported a rise in quarterly profit for the first time in three quarters on Wednesday, helped by its purchase of commercial loans from General Electric Co .

(Reuters) - U.S. grocery retailer Albertsons Companies Inc plans to delay its initial public offering beyond Thursday, until market conditions become more favorable, according to a person familiar with the matter.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares rose to 2-month highs on Thursday and the dollar struggled near multi-week lows after weak U.S. economic data added to expectations that the Federal Reserve will delay hiking interest rates.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Crude oil futures traded largely unchanged on Wednesday after falling by just over one percent in the previous session on an International Energy Agency report that said the market would remain oversupplied for at least another year.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Consumer inflation in China eased more than expected in September while producer prices fell for the 43rd straight month, adding to concerns over growing deflationary pressures in the world's second-largest economy.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares tottered on Wednesday, taking cues from Wall Street's losses and pressured by a continued selloff in oil as investors awaited consumer price data from China this session.

(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co , the biggest U.S. bank by assets, reported a 6.4 percent decline in revenue and profit declines in three of its four main businesses, underscoring how weak trading markets and low interest rates have hurt banks in recent months.

(Reuters) - Intel Corp cut revenue growth forecast for its highly profitable business of making chips for data centers as businesses reduce spending due to weak macroeconomic growth.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Airbus Group SA is likely to increase aircraft output at its Mobile, Alabama, factory beyond its current four-a-month target, the mayor of the Southern U.S. city said on Tuesday.

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - The world's top two brewers, Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller , have agreed in principle to one of the biggest mergers in corporate history after a near month-long courtship resulted in SABMiller accepting an offer worth more than $100 billion.

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, with the Dow snapping a seven-day winning streak, on renewed fears of slowing growth in China and another bout of selling in biotech shares.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips , the largest U.S. independent oil and gas company, on Tuesday said its board amended its bylaws to allow minority shareholders to nominate directors.

(Reuters) - Barclays Plc said on Tuesday it was still in the process of appointing a new chief executive officer, amid ongoing rumors that the British bank was close to naming former JPMorgan Chase & Co banker Jes Staley to the post.

(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson reported third-quarter sales well below Wall Street estimates, hurt by the stronger dollar and disappointing demand for its Remicade arthritis drug and its Xarelto blood clot preventer.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Federal Reserve banks pushing the central bank to raise the rate it charges commercial banks for emergency loans rose to eight in September from five in July, minutes from the Fed's discount rate meeting showed.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices pared most of their gains on Tuesday afternoon as investors focused on a bearish outlook from the International Energy Agency after U.S. crude gained on technical support earlier in the session.

LONDON (Reuters) - The new chief executive of British bank Barclays, expected to be former JPMorgan banker Jes Staley, faces an early challenge in deciding what to do in wealth management after a decade of disappointment.